After Deceiving Shizun into Dual Cultivating, I Ran Away With His Bun 42

Chapter 42

Lin Queli’s gaze was so intense that Helan Xue noticed and turned his head, only to see his little disciple’s fingers, which were clutching his chopsticks, turn red from the force.
Helan Xue paused, his eyebrows twitching slightly, a movement so slight that no one could notice.
The hand holding the cup moved slightly, and the wine inside swayed with its owner’s movement.
Does my little disciple care?
He’s so young, so naive. How much does he know about love? Those three days of absurdity, did my little disciple define them as a means of detoxification?
Helan Xue glanced at Miaoyin and finally said, “No need. This Venerable has not played for a thousand years. A cultivator of the Dao of Cangsheng plays to express emotions and vent desires, so that the mind is free of thoughts. This Venerable has already passed that stage.”
In any case, this was a matter between him and Lin Queli, and it should not be interfered with by outsiders.
Hearing Helan Xue’s cold refusal, without a trace of mercy, Miaoyin Xianzi paused and awkwardly put away her zither. “Ah… I see.”
Helan Xue’s words were not false. Ever since he had entered the stage of cultivation where his heart was like still water, he had indeed never played again.
Lin Queli pouted.
Sigh, as expected of a celibate, a celibate who could refuse even Miaoyin with a straight face.
He looked at the lively surroundings, then at Helan Xue, who was high up on the platform. He suddenly felt bored and took a few pieces of pastry to go out for a walk.
The hall was noisy and lively, but the courtyard outside was silent. Lin Queli sat down on a stone bench, eating pastries while admiring the moon.

【Host, why did you come out?】
“I have social anxiety.”
【?】
After finishing all the pastries, Lin Queli patted the crumbs off his hands and heard a voice from behind him.
“It seems you have completely forgotten your manners.”
Lin Queli was startled and turned to see Helan Xue standing not far behind him. The moonlight spilled on his white hair and white clothes, making him look both far and near.
He frowned at the pastry crumbs on Lin Queli’s body and his dirty hands, and shook his head.
Lin Queli gave a dry laugh.
Helan Xue stepped forward and handed a silk handkerchief to Lin Queli.
Lin Queli was flattered and forgot to take it for a moment.
Seeing this, Helan Xue thought Lin Queli was having a tantrum, so he directly grabbed his wrist and wiped his hands for him.
Helan Xue’s face was a little off.
This little disciple of his was avoiding him so much.
Lin Queli stared at Helan Xue in a daze. “Shizun… why did you come out?”
Helan Xue: “Why did you come out?”
Lin Queli smiled. “It doesn’t make a difference whether I come out or not, but Shizun is the main character! Why didn’t Shizun play a duet with Miaoyin Xianzi? I thought I could hear Shizun play the zither… The last time Shizun played the zither was a thousand years ago… wow, I didn’t even exist then!”
Helan Xue stared at Lin Queli. “Do you want to hear it?”
“Ah…?” Lin Queli scratched his head. “Of course I want to hear it…”
But there was a difference of a few thousand years between him and Helan Xue, so it wasn’t a big deal not to hear the tune.
Helan Xue rubbed the cinnabar prayer beads on his wrist.
After the two stopped talking, the surroundings became even quieter, with only the faint sound of the clamor from the hall and the chirping of cicadas in the grass beside them.
Helan Xue suddenly sat cross-legged in mid-air, floating in the virtual clouds, and took out a paulownia wood zither from his spirit pouch.
The zither had no decorations or patterns, but the wood was simple and ancient. Held in Helan Xue’s hands, it had a more Zen-like feel.
Under Lin Queli’s incredulous gaze, Helan Xue unfolded the zither and placed his hands on it.
Lin Queli’s eyes widened. “Is Shizun going to play the zither?!”
Didn’t he say he had renounced love and desire and hadn’t touched the zither for a thousand years?
Helan Xue lowered his eyes. “Since I haven’t played for many years, my skills are naturally rusty. I’ll just play a random tune and be done with it.”
Lin Queli had seen the strength and flexibility of these fingers a few days ago. At this moment, they were lightly placed on the strings, and with a gentle touch, a low and distant sound flowed out like water.
With the sound of the zither, Lin Queli saw a layer of frost form on the grass under Helan Xue, and fine snow began to fall around them.
For a cultivator of Helan Xue’s level, with a casual touch, his spiritual energy could change the color of the heavens and earth. It was only because Helan Xue had deliberately restrained himself that the wind around them was still gentle, only rolling up countless rime.
Lin Queli was dumbfounded, thinking to himself, so this is a big shot’s “random playing.”
He reached out and caught a snowflake.
Helan Xue had refused to play a duet in the hall, but he was playing for him alone in this small courtyard.
—At this moment, only he saw Helan Xue playing the zither and heard Helan Xue’s zither music.
This realization made the temperature in Lin Queli’s palm rise a little, melting the snowflake in his hand. He anxiously wanted to hold onto something, but only a pool of water was left in his palm.
Lin Queli first stared blankly at his palm, then looked up at Helan Xue.
The moonlight spilled on Helan Xue and the zither. The moment his fingertip struck the string, it was as if a thousand miles of clouds had frozen into ice.
Lin Queli couldn’t understand the intricacies, but he only felt that the tune was melodious, with countless stories in it. Perhaps this tune was originally supposed to be beautiful and sad, but because of the performer, it had a bit more coldness. But even so, Lin Queli could still hear the strong suppressed emotions in it.
Wave after wave, section after section.
After the tune ended, Lin Queli stared at Helan Xue in a daze. “Shizun, what is this tune?”
Helan Xue frowned. “You don’t know?”
Lin Queli said carefully, “…Maybe I forgot?”
Could this be common knowledge in the cultivation world?
After a long while, the frost and snow around them disappeared in an instant. Helan Xue held the zither and stood up. “Forget it. Whether you really forgot or not, it’s just a random tune. Don’t mind it.”
Helan Xue said coldly, “It’s late. Let’s go back.”
Lin Queli sensed Helan Xue’s subtle displeasure and pressure. He shrank his neck in fear, not knowing where he had made Helan Xue unhappy and disliked him again. He could only resentfully slip away. “Th-then this disciple will go back to his room. Good night!!”
Lin Queli walked away without looking back, not even daring to look at Helan Xue’s expression.
The air around seemed to be even colder.
Lin Queli ran all the way back to his room. After curling up in his quilt, he suddenly started to have a stomachache and feel nauseous without any warning.
He held his stomach and rolled around. “Da Zhuang!”

【I’m here, I’m here! Ah, Host… is it because you ran too fast and your emotions changed too much that you’re having… morning sickness?】
Lin Queli: “…”
Such a strange word, and even stranger when used on him.
【The baby has already formed, Host!】
Lin Queli suppressed the strange feeling and endured the pain to sit up and touch his lower abdomen.
Oh my god…
His originally flat belly was now slightly bulging. Although it was not obvious, at first glance, it looked like he had eaten too much, but…
“Sob, sob, sob, sob, waaah—”
Lin Queli rolled around again, this time not because of the pain, but because of the reality of being “pregnant.”
Help—
The thought of something inside is still so creepy!
Lin Queli was still trying to accept it.
【Host, don’t worry. The System has its ways to prevent the Host from suffering. The System has already adjusted the baby’s values. As long as you sleep more, you won’t feel uncomfortable! In the later stages, we’ll directly enter hibernation mode, and when the Host wakes up, the baby will be born!】
Is that a good thing?
The corner of Lin Queli’s mouth twitched. “I have to thank you for that.”
And perhaps because sleeping was the so-called “antidote,” Lin Queli groggily hugged his belly and fell asleep directly after lying down until noon the next day.
In the end, it was Qiansui who shouted and knocked on the door outside, and Lin Queli barely woke up.
“The sun is shining on your butt!” Qiansui urged after entering the door, “Junior Martial Uncle, hurry up and wash up and change!”
After groggily washing up, Lin Queli was pulled away by Qiansui and barely remembered to ask, “Why are you in such a hurry? Is there any progress? Did you find the demons?”
“No!” Qiansui said with a grin, “It’s because Immortal Lord Changming is finally here! After he came out of seclusion, he heard about what Grandmaster has been investigating recently and felt that this matter was of great importance, so he came directly to find us. He is familiar with Miaoyin Xianzi and can help us, not to mention he can also come and see you and Grandmaster!”
Huh?
Who?!
Immortal Lord Changming?!
“Hey, hey, hey? Junior Martial Uncle, why are you running away!!”

…

In the main hall, a sickly-looking man with a jade-like face was sitting beside Helan Xue, with hot tea on the elegant table between them.
The man—Immortal Lord Changming—had a head of dark hair that made his already pale skin look even whiter. His lips were bloodless, and there were faint dark circles under his eyes.
Like Helan Xue, Changming had lived for thousands of years, but his cultivation was not as high as Helan Xue’s. He was now at the end of his lifespan, and he was often in seclusion because his body was like a candle in the wind and needed more spiritual energy from heaven and earth to support it.
At this moment, Changming was discussing the matter of the Demon Clan with Helan Xue. He scraped the teacup in his hand and said with a cold face, “If the Xuan Yin Sect, the Radiant Church, and even other righteous sects are involved in this matter… then it’s no small matter. Fortunately, I am still familiar with Miaoyin. A few years ago, I roughly sensed that something was wrong in her sect after she went into seclusion to break through to the Nascent Soul stage.”
Miaoyin was considered Changming’s confidante. Out of responsibility for his friend and for the righteous sects, Changming had sent his disciple, who was also interested in music, to study at the Xuan Yin Sect.
“I have already summoned him here. We can ask him if he knows about this matter. If he doesn’t know, he can also help us investigate further. He is now Miaoyin’s inner-sect disciple and also a deacon of the sect.
“After all, Miaoyin has been so focused on breaking through these past few years that she has been oblivious to the outside world. It must be because if she doesn’t break through, she will only have a hundred years left in her lifespan.”
Helan Xue shook his head. “It is not easy to break through to the Nascent Soul stage within a hundred years.”
“At least there’s still hope, unlike me.” Changming smiled bitterly. “I am too far from becoming an immortal, and my lifespan is less than a hundred years. But it doesn’t matter. Birth, old age, sickness, and death are normal. Anyway, now the Changming Clan has many cultivators who can stand on their own. I am very relieved. The only thing I’m worried about is…”
Changming sighed. “Lin Luo has grown up by my side since he was young, but I rarely had the opportunity to teach him. Fortunately, there is you. Now that he has become your disciple, your lifespan will be endless after you become an immortal, and you also know how to teach people. I can finally leave with peace of mind.”
Helan Xue shook his head. “I may not be able to become an immortal either.”
He was half a step away from attaining the Dao, but he had been half a step away for hundreds of years. Perhaps the opportunity had not yet arrived, or perhaps this was his limit.
“Not necessarily. But if you can’t become an immortal… Taxue, we have already lived long enough, so long that…” Changming looked at the sunlight outside the window, “we have long been numb.”
Changming turned and smiled. “The old friends who fought alongside us in the immortal-demon war have all passed away. I am the last one. You have cultivated your very being. You must be more detached from life and death than I am and will not be sad about this. This is also good… so I can entrust my posthumous affairs to you with peace of mind.”
Helan Xue looked at his old friend before him, took a sip of tea, and his expression was unreadable. “Mmm.”
The tea in the stove boiled, making a “sizzling” sound.
Helan Xue suddenly spoke. “You and Miaoyin used to have an engagement. Did you like her?”
Changming chuckled. “If I liked her, why would I not have fulfilled the engagement for a thousand years, and even canceled it early?”
Helan Xue asked again, “Why didn’t you like her?”
Changming paused. He looked at Helan Xue with some confusion, seeming to be a little strange why he was asking such a question, and his expression was still as cold as ever when he asked.
But even so, Changming did not associate it with Helan Xue himself. At most, he thought this was Taxue’s “end-of-life care,” so he patiently replied, “What is there to explain about liking? Liking is liking, not liking is not liking. The heart naturally has the answer.”
Helan Xue frowned.
Just as Helan Xue was about to ask Changming if he knew that Lin Luo was a furnace cauldron, he saw the disciple Changming had summoned arrive.
But this young disciple’s steps were a little anxious. He rushed in and said directly without even saluting, “N-not good!”
Boom—
Before he could finish, a deafening sound came from outside.